SUSSEX COUNTY, Del.-Â As the summer season gets closer and closer, businesses are looking to fill positions.
They are many openings, but few takers. Also, there is a struggle trying to find people to apply in the first place.
Rehoboth Beach Main Street has started to advertise job openings on its social media platforms. President of Rehoboth Beach Main Street Greer Maneval says that this is the worst situation she has seen in the city for a summer hiring period.
"I don't think at this degree it has ever happened in Rehoboth as we see in a lot of seaside towns," Maneval said. "The pandemic has definitely been the lynch pin in creating this problem."
Businesses can not run efficiently without the proper staffing. Bob Cartwright owns The Coffee Mill and is looking for some extra help, but feels optimistic about having a great season no matter how much help he has.
"Without our J-1 students this year, it's going to be a challenge," Cartwright said. "But, working with Rehoboth Beach Main Street and the chamber of commerce and the City of Rehoboth Beach, we are going to be ok. You know, at the end of the year we are going to wipe our brow off and say we did it."
Premier Staffing Solutions helps to fill openings. About eighty percent of them are permanent while twenty percent of them are temporary. Director Paco Hernandez says there are other factors as to why jobs are not being filled.
"The lack of childcare, the lack of regular transportation, the added benefits for unemployment and that kind of stuff," Hernandez said. "It's all adding to that."
There will be a job fair at Sussex Technical High School next Tuesday from 10 a.m. to 2 p.m. Over thirty companies are scheduled to be there looking for people ready to work.
The pandemic was enough of a hole to dig out of but businesses are having to cut their hours and even close some days until the situation gets better.